Austin Peay's Zach Hall throws against Southern Illinois during a game in 2013. The lefthander started in the Govs' 5-4 win over Florida in the NCAA Regional at Indiana.

Written by

Luke Thompson
Leaf-Chronicle

Home runs and losses look like trivial concerns compared to a major injury that seems to afflict more and more pitchers every year.

The list of players who need Tommy John Surgery to repair a torn ultra collateral ligament in their elbows has never been higher, with more than 60 Major or Minor Leaguers going under the knife so far in 2014 alone. It's a problem for pitchers at nearly all levels from high school on up, but one Austin Peay pitching coach Joel Mangrum had mostly avoided until recently.

"If you look since (my first season in) 2010, it was bound to kind of happen," Mangrum said Tuesday. "We ...